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Friday, September 30, 2011

Q. What book that hasn't been turned into a movie (yet) would you most like to see make it to the big screen, and who would you like cast as your favorite character?

I'd love to see Lisey's Story by Stephen King get made. Hmm, for Lisey I'd choose maybe Laura Linney or Rachel Weisz, someone kind of cool and down to earth. For her husband, Scott, I'd choose Daniel Day-Lewis, although he might be a bit old for the role.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

1. What do you think of reading aloud/being read to? Does it bring back memories of your childhood? Your children’s childhood?

2. Does this affect the way you feel about audio books?

3. Do you now have times when you read aloud or are read to?

I was read to a lot during my childhood. My mom read to me and to my sister every night from many favorite fairy tale books. My sister would get a little antsy during the readings, but I was always fascinated by the stories. Surprisingly, I don't really like to be read to now. I'm not a huge fan of audio books, I prefer to have my own eyes on the book, and take my own speed reading.

I do read out loud to other people, though, I have no problem with doing that, and in fact have done it a lot in different classes.

The beautiful and wealthy heiress daughters of August Price can buy everything their hearts desire. But what if their desire is to be loved, without an enormous price tag attached? When one sister betrays another for the sake of love, will she find happiness? And what happens when the other sets out across the still untamed frontier to find it—will she discover she’s left it behind in the glamorous world of the New York gilded society? What price will each woman pay for being an heiress?

Set in the opulent world of the Gilded Age, two women discover that being an heiress just might cost them everything they love.

About Susan: Susan May Warren is an award-winning, best-selling author of over twenty-five novels, many of which have won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, the ACFW Book of the Year award, the Rita Award, and have been Christy finalists. After serving as a missionary for eight years in Russia, Susan returned home to a small town on Minnesota’s beautiful Lake Superior shore where she, her four children, and her husband are active in their local church.

Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder ofwww.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.

Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)

A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at:www.susanmaywarren.com.

Link to buy the book: BuyWin an opulent Gilded Age Prize Pack fit for an Heiress from Susan May Warren!

Heiress, a richly complex historical romance, is the first in Susan's three book Daughters of Fortune series. In honor of Heiress’ debut, Susan is hosting a FABULOUS Gilded Age Giveaway and giving away an opulent prize pack fit for an heiress!

One grand prize winner will receive:

A $100 gift certificate to ModCloth.com

A sleek silver iPod™ Shuffle

A beautiful strand of Pearls

Titanic DVD

Speakeasy Compilation Music CD from Starbucks™

Heiress by Susan May Warren

Click one of the icons below to enter. But do so soon - this giveaway ends 10/5/11. The winner will be announced Thursday, October 6 on Susan’s blog.

My Review:This is a rich story of love and betrayal, with many twists and turns that will keep the reader anxious to see what’s going to happen.

The setting is fabulous, with all the Regency period details, all the ball gowns and dog collars that you can imagine, but also with a real grittiness running beneath it. An underground current of deceit and unhappiness. Esme, dreaming of a life as a newspaper woman, cannot fathom being married to someone she doesn’t love, while Jinx, her sister, cannot imagine a life without the riches she’s grown up with. Both make choices, and both pay the price for those choices. We follow them in their lives as they struggle with their decisions and look for the love that continues to evade them. There are many tense chapters that leave the reader gasping as injustice and misfortune strike them both, but we, like them, look forward to seeing them succeed.

The characters themselves are well done, dynamic, full of life. Even Foster Worth, the quasi-villain, maintains a trace of humanity. Esme and Jinx are by turns amusing and frustrating, but we come to love them both. Phoebe suffers a bit, she doesn’t come across quite as real as the rest, since we can’t really understand her manipulations against her daughters.

This is a fun, fast-paced novel, and I can recommend it without issue.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

■Grab your current read■Open to a random page■Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page■BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)■Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday, September 26, 2011

From the author of the international and New York Times bestseller Let the Right One In (Let Me In) comes this stunning and terrifying book which begins when a man's six-year-old daughter vanishes.One ordinary winter afternoon on a snowy island, Anders and Cecilia take their six-year-old daughter Maja across the ice to visit the lighthouse in the middle of the frozen channel. While the couple explore the lighthouse, Maja disappears -- either into thin air or under thin ice -- leaving not even a footprint in the snow. Two years later, alone and more or less permanently drunk, Anders returns to the island to regroup. He slowly realises that people are not telling him all they know; even his own mother, it seems, is keeping secrets. What is happening in Domaro, and what power does the sea have over the town's inhabitants? As he did with Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead, John Ajvide Lindqvist serves up a blockbuster cocktail of suspense in a narrative that barely pauses for breath.

This just might be one of my favorite reads this year. I was lucky to receive the ARC for Harbor from the publisher and I can tell you, this is one that I’ll be recommending to a lot of people.

What is incredible in this book is the atmosphere the author creates, the almost mythic quality to the story, which adds layers and layers of knowledge as the chapters take us deeper into the history of Domaro. This is no normal horror novel, it is so smartly done that it begins to get under your skin from the very first page, building the mystery and the tension to an excruciating pitch.

The characters are well done, but they all take a back-stage to the setting. The island itself is a character, one to compete with the moors in Wuthering Heights. It is impossible to forget where we are, the ocean always a step away in all its glory and power.

The only thing I had a bit of trouble with was the ending. It seemed too easily resolved. There were a few plot points which were still not made too clear. This however, should not stop anyone from reading it, since I’m sure others will see the ending as genius. I’m willing to forgive the weak ending because the rest of the book just astounded me.

This is one of those books that you will not want to put down. One that will stay with you for far longer than it takes to read. When it comes out on October 11th, this is one to add to your shopping lists.

I almost never give up on a book, however, if the writing is just beyong awful I have to, for my sanity. I get so angry at poor writing that it's not worth the stress. The only other reason which might make me put a book down is if it's incredibly dull.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Katharine Geryon is living the life her family name has dictated, and why not? After all, it has given her a good job in the family company and a fine life with all the things she should want. But all that changes as increasingly disturbing events begin to occur: soot stains on the carpet, glimpses of strange black animals, and cryptic messages written on her bathroom mirror. Baffled and afraid, Katharine begins to doubt her own sanity.

At the same time, two charismatic men enter her life: Allistair, her new assistant at work, and Zachary, a well-heeled neighbor who just moved into her building. Katharine soon finds each of them inextricably entangled in her affairs. As her life becomes stranger and her dreams more terrifying, she realizes neither man is what he seems and that she's caught in something far beyond her own comprehension. For the first time, she must reach beyond her own boundaries. There Katharine forges her first true friendship with Margot, a librarian who helps her discover what these men really are, why she's drawn to them, and what they want with her.

The answer places Katharine in the middle of a fierce battle that forces her to decide between the two men fighting for her soul.

In the end, only one can be saved, but all three will be judged.

With a mixture of horror, love and mystery, this book introduces us to a very different idea of angels and demons. The unique storyline makes it an interesting read for all paranormal lovers.

The novel has a wonderful beginning, taking the reader inside the pages immediately and keeping the interest level high as we are introduced to the main characters, Zachary, Allistair and Katharine. The suspense is handled well, allowing us just enough information to be a bit ahead of Katharine, but not know exactly what is going on yet. As the novel moves into the middle section, it slows down a bit, sometimes becoming a tad dull, as we read about the same things happening throughout the night: the soot stains, the writing on the bathroom mirror, and the strange animals that suddenly appear. It picks up as the end nears, and doesn’t let go until the last word. Not bad for a paranormal book of this length.

The characters are fully developed, the mixture of real qualities giving the demon and the angel believable aspects to their personalities. I do wish, however, that the author had explained a bit more why the two of them were so infatuated with our heroine. What propelled them to make the wager they did? Katharine is fun, and we get to see her grow through the novel, which many times gets forgotten in horror or paranormal novels. By the end of the book, we’ve come to know her and admire the strength that we’ve seen her develop.

This is a fun book that I can recommend to pretty much any adult who’d like a something a bit different.

Q. Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it?

Yes, I do. The Dragonlance Series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Now, I am not one for high fantasy novels, they are usually not my thing, but when my sister introduced me to this particular series, with the first book Dragons of Autumn Twilight, I fell head over heels in love. There is just something about this series that really got to me. I think, mainly is that the characters are well-developed. They are interesting, so we pay attention to them more than to the world-building or fantastical creatures. My favorites are the first 6 books. After that, the main characters "retire" and we have a bunch of new ones, which for me are not that great. So I stick to the first 6 books and read them when I need to step completely out of my world and into another with characters who are as real as the people around me.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

I always have a book with me. No matter where I am, I have one in my purse or in my hands. I've even taken books to parties for when the conversation lags. The only time I've ever hidden a cover was when I was reading a book about ceremonial magick. People tend to look at me like I'm a devil worshipper, so I keep the book under wraps. Silly, and ignorant on their part, but it's better to avoid trouble. There's nothing worse than having to defend your beliefs with a hysterical person.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read•Open to a random page•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!